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10 July 2011

Day 190

Today was an exciting day for our family….we took the kids to their first major league baseball game! The Girl Scouts were offering a special deal on tickets to a St. Louis Cardinals game. For $17 each you could get admittance to the game (normally $37 for our seating section) as well as a voucher for a free hot dog and soft drink. Plus, the Cards are our favorite team! I decided to organize an outing for our troop and 3 of the families were able to join us.

Sadly, their was an excessive heat warning for the day and the game was scheduled for nearly peak heat of the day (1:15pm). Bravely, we stocked up on water, snacks, & sunscreen. The great thing about Busch Stadium is that you can bring in your own food and drinks (with some exceptions). Not many venues will allow you to do this. We had to arrive early to the game as they were allowing the Girl Scouts to walk in the parade around the edge of the field before the game. Once there, we had to wait in line on one of the ramps inside the stadium for about 45 minutes. Because it was so hot, it felt more like hours.

My family and part of another family that joined us.

But eventually they led us underneath the stadium and out onto the field. The sun was blazing down on us and the heat was nearly unbearable, but it was so cool to actually be on the field that we hardly noticed. We were able to walk around the entire field in a “parade” led by Fred Bird on a golf cart. Unfortunately we across the field from Fred Bird so we didn’t get to see him up close. But the rest of the stadium was just incredible! Crockett and I had been to the original Busch Stadium YEARS ago as kids, but neither of us had been to the new one yet. I was excited to be experiencing it with our kids. The staff hustle you along so pictures had to be taken super quick. LilCrockett was a little bummed about the parade as he had been expecting bands, floats, etc. In hindsight, I should have explained it better to him.

I wasn’t wearing any Cardinals gear as my only apparel is a hat (which is too hot in the heat with my thick hair). So, I’m wearing an old granny-ish visor. I definitely see a shopping trip in my near future so I can get a more stylish one.

There’s Fred Bird across the field.

Cardinals dugout!!

Part of the St. Louis skyline.

After the parade, we went up to find our seats and were overjoyed to discover that they were in shade. Yea! Crockett & I were actually in a section of 3 seats by themselves with only stairs around us, so that was really cool. I knew our seats weren’t going to be great because we were in the nosebleed section, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that we could actually see the field pretty well. There’s not really a bad seat in the stadium (unless it’s a super hot day and you are not in the shade).

Once the game started, we were able to watch a few innings before the kids started asking for food. We ate our free stuff and then splurged on some Dippin’ Dots, pretzels, and cotton candy during several trips to the concession area. Thankfully due to the heat warning, the stadium was offering free ice water. And we needed it too. The heat index reached 105 in St. Louis this afternoon. Though we were sitting in a shaded area, the sun shifted and now hit our legs mid-thigh. It was enough to cause our body temperatures to rise even further. So, we decided to go find some shadier seats. About that time, one of our friends discovered that the St. Louis Fire Department had opened up a hose just outside the stadium, so we went out to cool off. Most of us ran through several times (it felt like heaven!), but LilCrockett decided to just stand under the heavy water spray. He was completely soaked! Afterwards we had the kids thank the firemen and pose for a picture.

Now that we had cooled off a bit, we ventured down to some lower seating areas just so we could get a closer look at the diamond and the baseball players. We found an area to stand and watch for a bit, but then moved back to the upper levels where we watched some more of the game from different seats (which were vacant), got some more food, and such.

By now it was around the 8th inning and our shady area turned sunny. We had all had enough of the heat and most of us were feeling a little sick, , so we decided to head to our cars and some A/C. It felt WONDERFUL! As it turns out, we didn’t get to watch as much of the game as I would have liked; but considering the awful heat, we did better than I expected. And the important thing is that we all had a great day together and the Cardinals won! I’m looking forward to coming to another game sometime, despite the fact that I’m not even a sports fan.